Depok, July 31st, 2023. A lot of people might not know that the Kranggan Traditional House is a manifestation of the local wisdom of the Sundanese people that are located in Jatirangga Village, Jatisampurna District, Bekasi City, West Java. This traditional house is a cultural heritage from generation to generation. Unfortunately, there are currently only 12 houses remaining from the 96 houses recorded in 2018.
For this reason, through a joint initiation of the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering (FT) University of Indonesia (UI), Jatirangga Urban Village, KLM Syariah Cooperative, Bangun Kota, Indonesian Institute of Architects Bekasi, and the Uma Nusantara Foundation, the Indonesian Vernadoc Bekasi 2023 is being held. This activity aims to educate and promote Indonesia’s traditional architectural cultural wealth to the international community.
Indonesian Vernadoc Bekasi 2023 is an activity documenting traditional architecture at the Kranggan Traditional House in collaboration with Vernadoc Indonesia, Vernadoc Thailand, Vernadoc Malaysia, Vernadoc Cambodia, and Rangsit University. The house chosen for the documentation is also a house that still shows its authenticity in terms of shape and material, which has not changed much since it was built more than 70 years ago. Professor of the FTUI Architecture Department, Prof. Kemas Ridwan Kurniawan, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D., explained that in building this traditional house, the indigenous people of Kranggan village were required to use jackfruit wood which is known to be very strong compared to other wood and also as an expression of respect for their ancestors.
“The Vernadoc method is a method of documenting vernacular/traditional architecture using high-quality manual and measured drawing techniques using pencil (basic), pen and ink media based on on-site data and information. By using this method, it is hoped that it can provide alternative contributive efforts (recording) in preserving architectural wealth in the archipelago, in this case the Traditional House of Kampung Kranggan Bekasi,” said Prof. Kemas who is also the Chairperson of the Indonesian Vernadoc Bekasi 2023.
Jatirangga Urban Village Head Ahmad Apandi said, “The Indonesian Vernadoc Bekasi 2023 activity is a collaboration event for architectural activists from various countries including Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. As a form of support for preserving the cultural heritage of the Kranggan Traditional House, the delegates from various countries will socialize architectural issues and carry out documentation by making 2D drawings of the Kranggan Traditional House. The results will be exhibited to the people of Kranggan village.”
Participants from Cambodia, Rith Dany and Cheng Devid, said that they had gained a lot of experiences, including the pleasant environment at the Kranggan Traditional House. Apart from that, they admitted that they learned a lot of new things, especially about the history and the unique form of the Kranggan house. This uniqueness from a traditional perspective added to their knowledge of the forms of traditional house buildings in Indonesia.
“Documentation of traditional buildings in the archipelago is an impactful step taken by the FTUI Architecture Department along with various other institutions in saving the archipelago’s architectural wealth from eroding by age that could have destroyed this architectural wealth. The Kranggan Traditional House is one of the many traditional architectural buildings that we need to pay attention to so that its existence can be maintained at any time. Hopefully, the existence of the Indonesian Vernadoc Bekasi will be a positive means of supporting the richness of traditional architecture in Indonesia,” said the Dean of FTUI, Prof. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU.
This activity was attended by 28 volunteers including eight students and four lecturers, architects, and architectural preservation activists. Indonesian Vernadoc Bekasi 2023 activities included several stages. The first activity was carried out in the Kranggan Bekasi Traditional House area, namely at the Abah Olot Kisan House (opening) and Abah Olot Ambung (preliminary measurements and drawings), on 2nd-9th July 2023. Activities continued at the Studio Engineering Center FTUI, on 10th-15th July 2023, and closed with exhibition activities at the Abah Olot Ambung House in Kranggan Bekasi, on 16th of July 2023.
